Instructions Not Included: Blu-ray Review

21 January 2014Last Updated on 21 January 2014Written by Monica Cantu0 Comments

No se aceptan Devoluciones (original title) – A single man living in a bachelor pad has it made. He resides in Acapulco, Mexico and has his pick of “tourists” every night of the week, until one day he is given a non-returnable gift. His 10 month old daughter lands on his doorstep. Abandoned by her mother, Valentin (Eugenio Derbez) must now figure out how to raise his daughter, Maggie (Loreto Peralta), alone. The pair will eventually face a new challenge, meeting the birth mother once again. Written by Guillermo Ríos, Leticia López Margalli, and Eugenio Derbez. Directed by Eugenio Derbez.

When I popped in the blu-ray, the first person that came to mind was my mom. “Monica, go and see this movie! It is soooo good!” Now, to rely solely on my mother’s opinion would be a bit tough. My mom likes real movies. And what I mean by that, movies that could happen in real life, no CG required. But then I realized it was in Spanish and it all made sense lol. I love foreign films — especially the ones in Spanish, though its a bias statement on my part because Spanish is my second language, but I felt the realness that my mom must have felt when I watched this. The story begins with Valentin, the unattached bachelor who had a new woman each night. Then knock on the door, here’s your new baby girl. Of course, first thought that popped into my head was “hey this is Three Men and a Little Baby!” And yes, it many aspects, it was very similar to that movie. The only difference was this man spoke no English and the ending was as we would have hoped. Eugenio Derbez did a fantastic job directing this film. And his acting chops?! So great. He embodied this character to the fullest and added the right about of comedy when needed. Now, I HAVE to talk about Loreto Peralta, who played Maggie in this film. She was amazing. It took me a while to get passed the fact that she was a blue-eyed blonde girl speaking Spanish so fluently that she could put me to shame! I immediately checked her out in IMDB and this seems to be her first credited role, but you would think this girl has been acting since she was in diapers. So convincing and brought the realness needed for her character. I adored her beyond belief. She reminded me of a young Kristen Bell too. But the casting department did a great job with all the actors in this film. This movie was very entertaining but also very heart warming. Being a parent myself, you know what lengths you would go to keep your kids happy and Valentin was no exception. Even though he was made a parent overnight, he grew to love Maggie to the full extent. I say, go out and check this movie out! If you are not a Spanish speaker, there are subtitles, but the message is there in the acting. You won’t regret it.

Instructions Not Included is available NOW on Blu-ray and DVD from Lionsgate